The present invention relates to a novel beverage and method for preparing same.
Fruits are often valuable sources of Vitamin C, an important vitamin people need for proper nutrition. While fruits are easy to eat because they usually require little or no preparation, many people obtain their recommended daily allotment (RDA) of Vitamin C by consuming juices made from Vitamin C rich fruits, like oranges. Because Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, much of it remains with the juice and not the pulp during processing. In addition, the water solubility of Vitamin C makes it easy to supplement the Vitamin C level of a fruit juice by the addition of sufficient ascorbic acid to meet the RDA. Fruit juices, because of their nutritional attributes, convenience and great taste have proven to be quite successful in the marketplace.
Another important vitamin which people need in their diet is Vitamin A. Vegetables are often a valuable dietary source of Vitamin A, or its biochemical precursor, beta-carotene. Unfortunately, many people do not receive their RDA of Vitamin A because they do not eat enough vegetables. One possible reason for this low consumption of vegetables is that, unlike fruits, vegetables usually require that the consumer take the time to prepare or cook the vegetable prior to eating. One possible remedy to this disadvantage is to remove the preparation step for the consumer and, like has been done for fruits, make a juice out of the vegetable. While a variety of vegetable juices are present on the market, i.e., carrot juice, celery juice, sauerkraut juice, and tomato juice, none, with the possible exception of V-8 JUICE, have been nearly as popular with the consuming public as fruit juices. While there may be a variety of reasons for this lack of success, the main reason is probably that vegetable juices are not nearly as palatable as fruit juices Therefore, because people generally do not drink vegetable juice, it is not a reasonable alternative to eating vegetables as a source of Vitamin A and the other nutritional attributes of vegetables.
Another disadvantage associated with vegetable juice, in addition to poor taste, is that in vegetables, the bulk of the vitamins remain with the pulp during processing (Vitamin A is not a water soluble vitamin like Vitamin C). While one might suggest that this disadvantage easily can be overcome by the inclusion of the pulp with the vegetable juice, vegetable pulp is even less palatable than vegetable juice. Given the already demonstrated low palatability and popularity of vegetable juices, there is little incentive to increase the vitamin content of a vegetable juice by the addition of vegetable pulp when that addition will diminish the palatability of the vegetable juice even more.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a product and a process by which the vitamins present in vegetable pulp can be incorporated into a beverage without significantly compromising the palatability of the beverage.